In GMT it is now Nov. 20th, the last day these forums will be available. Thanks to you all and to everyone who participated in the forums over the years either by posting or viewing.
“The newborn has only three demands. They are warmth in the arms of its mother, food from her breasts, and security in the knowledge of her presence. Breastfeeding satisfies all three.”
― Grantly Dick-Read
"Motherhood is not for sissies, I'll tell you!"
- A mom on the LLL forums.

Humans are meant to feel enough hunger that they eat enough to sustain life (and grow, if they are still growing.) So why would a baby not indicate they are hungry is they are? Only if their appetite is subnormal. This is very unlikely but possible if a baby is very malnourished in some way. This just seems unlikely in your case.
makes sense
This is common behavior. Many moms feel low in the evening, baby nurses lots at this time. There are biological reasons for this I do not have to go into right now, but this is in fact entirely normal.
Yes ask caregiver to not feed baby so close to when you get home! This is a common problem and it can adversely affect baby nursing when mom gets home. Maybe they can try waking baby sooner or only give them a little milk to tide baby over, or just comfort baby until you get home.
I am not going to be able to be on the computer much more today. Just FYI. Check your pms.

Ok then it is not nursing strike or reflux. I have no other signs except no poop , no gain , no pee overnight, (but clear pees once the baby is awake).otherwise baby is content after each session, happy , rolling over, smiling , cooing etc... So this makes me clueless. How long can a baby be not gaining and no issue? This is what exactly happened with his brother too. same exact weight gain at 2 months and 4 months and very very low weight gain after that. I did not want this to happen this time. but my bad, history repeating itself.

I am very sure he is not dehydrated. by concern is is he getting enough? say my baby needs 24 oz in 24 hours and he just gets 20 oz or so from breast so he doesn't have a weight gain?but not enough to bother to cry? Am I making any sense here? I know I think too much out of box sometimes.
Since ?I had oversupply he used to have too many wet diapers, So may be I was used to that. He nurses more often only before he goes to bed(May be thats the time he is not getting enough before his bedtime, but he fall asleep tought for 2-3 hours), other sessions he is not like that. just nurse one side and doesn't nurse at least for an hour or two.
One other issue I had was when I come home by 5:30pm, sometimes baby will not be ready to nurse, its because he would have slept until 5 and woke up really hungry, So it could have been an reason for less milk supply in the evening. may be. Thats what I think. But anyway I will be at home for one more month. I will try to avoid that in future.

It is usually normal for a child to nurse one side at a time. Some prefer this way, some prefer both, some mix it up. Nursing strikes mean a baby is refusing to nurse entirely, or will only nurse when asleep or with a struggle. Reflux is a medical issue with several pretty clear signs- (baby hates being laid flat and cries in pain, baby has wet painful burps or painful spit up.) Reflux usually causes a baby to nurse more often or more, as nursing is comforting and breastmilk is soothing.

So the pees sound normal. Since he is not peeing overnight, then it makes sense the morning pee would be a little more concentrated.
Baby nurses at 6:15, and again at 8:45. This sounds like entirely normal meal spacing. Not that more often would mean a problem. Maybe that is your concern? That baby nursing more often means baby is not getting enough?
If you think you need to pump more often at work, you can start doing that now. If you think you need to increase your milk production, there are several things you can do. Getting your period back may cause a slight, temporary drop in production that is usually noticed by moms as decreased pump output. But it does not mean that you no longer make enough milk. You may hear that menstruating when you are nursing is a problem. It isn't. These myths probably come from the issue of pregnancy and nursing. A woman who becomes pregnant while her child is under a year old or relying mostly on breastmilk for sustenance may indeed find she no longer makes enough milk for her child, and this is a serious health concern when there were no safe alternatives for feeding a baby. So some cultures have ancient taboos about sex with nursing mothers that have been misinterpreted to mean fertile women should not or cannot make enough milk. No. This is absolutely not true. Even pregnant mothers will continue to lactate, but some (not all) see a significant drop in production.

Any time after 6 weeks, a baby going a week or more without pooping is usually entirely normal. If a baby is not getting enough to eat, then yes there may not be any poop- but there would be many other signs as well.
Temporary slow down or plateaus in weight gain are also entirely normal at this age.
If you are concerned that your baby is dehydrated, really my best suggestion is to bring baby to the doctor. They will be able to tell you for sure if baby is insufficiently hydrated. What you are reporting does not sound like dehydration to me but I am not there so cannot be sure what you are saying.

One other thing which I am noticing is, if he takes both breasts while he is asleep,I just slip in his mouth and I can hear him swallow. but when he is awake he just won't take other breast. Is it some kind of nursing strike or reflux? If he is not hungry even while he is asleep he should not take the other breast rite?

All his pees are clear urine. except his morning urine is little pale yellow. he is nursing more than 12 times a day. he never acted like he didn't get enough from breast. I am terribly confused and I lost my sleep over this. Now he woke up at 7 AM and did not want to nurse until 8:45AM and he nursed one side and happily sleeping.(He nursed at 6:15 AM though).
I made a mistake of not pumping enough at work, still i was bringing home the amount of milk he was drinking. I got my periods back when I went back to work.

Hello Maddieb I have a question, I was reading a old post and it said baby who does not poop for a week or even may not be getting enough milk. I am wondering if that is my case, he did not poop for 4 or 5 days except a small poop 3 days back.(I wouldnt consider as a good poop).
I am not even sure about wet diapers, I am confused. He stopped peeing all night, He feels content after each sesssion except before bed time cluster nursing, he nurse every 2-3 hours at night. looks happy, doesn't cry for milk. but no weight gain. it is remaining same for past two weeks. How can i figure out if he is getting enough? I feel like I am missing something. I feel like he has put a halt to his growth.

Yeah that is a good point about the ears. Also I forgot to mention that we were helped a lot by white noise (we used a machine or a fan) and also by darkening the room. Although third child actually slept better with some light.

It is always a great idea to hang out with other breastfeeding moms. It can also be helpful to experience a variety of different babies, because behavior can vary so much. Hope you find the help you need.

Thanks for the reply, I feel much better today after nursing him all last night and morning today.
I did want to mention the remedy I use whenever I get mastitis (which has been more and more often with each successive child) since it is simple and may work for other people as well. The very first time I got it, my midwife suggested I drink a glass of saltwater made with Real Salt. I find that it knocks it right out, especially if I catch it early on. Sometimes, like this time, I ended up drinking a glass morning and night for a couple days. I have had mastitis over ten times and never had to use antibiotics. It is kind of gross to drink but it works!

I actually want to suggest taking her to the doctor and having the doctor look at her ears. The idea that anytime she is laying down and NOT nursing she is screaming, suggests to me that she may be in pain. Often pain when laying down is ear pain.
In terms of sleep, sleep this young is never consistent and always changing. We all did whatever worked. And when they teethe? Nothing does. So when you are getting no sleep or not enough at night? Don't feel bad about sleeping in. And? If you NEED the sleep? I fully enourage laying down for naptime. Being able to rest with the baby when we started side lye nursing (Which was also around 4 months) made a huge difference in the quality of my life.
I like Carms idea's about other sleep associations and know plently of mother's who used white noise machines. Good luck to you!

I've just been reading through all my own posts and just remembering how important this forum has been in my life for the past 5 years. I first found it when I was trying to figure things out with my oldest, and it has been such a source of support and encouragement over the years...I'm not sure what I would have done without it. Probably would've felt very lonely and discouraged! I've really enjoyed reading your posts over the years, Meg, and I have learned so much from you about breastfeeding, and mothering in general! The thought of this all going away makes me want to cry, but I will always treasure the memory of this place and I will do my best to continue to support other mothers in their nursing journey as best I can!

I second the idea of trying to find a LLL meeting if you haven't already. Especially since this forum is closing (which no one is happy about).
I coslept with my oldest till just before she was 2, and she woke several times during the night to nurse, but nothing like what you're dealing with! I wonder what size bed you have? Our set up when we were co sleeping was to have our mattress on the floor, with the crib mattress tucked up next to it on the floor. I would nurse her to sleep on her mattress and then still be within arms reach, but not so close that she'd be right on me, you know? I think maybe that helped with not waking up quite as frequently. Now she's 5, and has fallen asleep and stayed asleep all night for a very long time, and even if she does wake up she puts her music on and goes back to sleep.
The other thing I'm going to suggest trying is to start associating sleep with other things, like a lovey or soft music. It might take a while, but she might come to associate those things with sleep and be able to use those rather than nursing all the time. Or she might just grow out of nursing all the time, but at least you'll feel like you were trying something! I've found that kids change so much on their own, and you're often left scratching your head about whether it was the intervention you'd been trying, or just time itself!
My youngest, now 17 months, wasn't a great sleeper either, waking up several times during the night to nurse, but we didn't co...

Hi, so sorry you are having this struggle. Wow your post brought me back to my experience parenting my oldest child at this age!
So, it is not your fault. Most likely this is just who your child is now, it won't be forever, but it may be for another several months or even longer. Sorry, I know that is not what you want to hear! But in my experience, a child who is like this at 16 months has a ways to go before they can sleep without nursing, consolidate sleep, etc.
My oldest child at this age kept me up most of the night nursing, and was very clingy the rest of the time. It was utterly exhausting. Honestly, the only thing that really helped was me changing how I thought about the situation. Learning to accept that that was who he was and rolling with it. In practice, that meant not worrying about nap schedules and bedtime schedules. Routines? Yes. Mostly for my sanity. But I stopped worrying about what time things happened. I stopped thinking about how often I was awakened at night, I stopped looking at the clock especially at night.
Another thing that helped was letting myself off the hook. I was beyond exhausted, so if the house was not clean or dinner was take out, that had to be ok. It had to be great! I asked my husband to pick up the slack as much as he could, or we just let it go. I also had him take our son at night even though he would not settle for my husband and cried. At least I got a little more time to try to put together a little sleep. My...

Hi, mastitis can be very tricky. If your are sure it is mastitis and not the flu, then you might want to pump just a little until you are well (or encourage your child to nurse more often.) And then, unfortunately, you may find you need to wean yourself off the pump again, perhaps more gradually. (pumping slightly less each day, pumping every other day, only pumping if child does not nurse, etc.)
Of course you can just treat the mastitis with anti biotics (probably will have to do that anyway(?) and hope that is all that is needed. It really depends on how full you are feeling/how much milk stasis you are having at this point. Hope you feel better soon!

This closes in 3 days?!? On the day I join?! That just adds to my feeling of helplessness. Maybe I can get some responses over the weekend.
My 16 month old has ALWAYS had sleep issues. As an infant she hit many of the attributes of the “high needs” baby. I was able to get her to take a passi at 3 weeks but at 4 months she simply refused it ever again.
Since about 4 months I’ve nursed her to sleep because sleep was SO HARD with her, she’d cry and cry, and then once she was big enough to side-lie nurse, she’d pass out and we were just like, “Yes!” And, if matched my parenting philosophy. I’m happy to nurse her to sleep.
But here’s my issue...she can’t even lay down without nursing, or she’ll scream. She’s always been like this. Neither my husband or I can rock her, hold her, cuddle her. She ONLY wants to nurse. She still wakes up frequently at night, which sucks but isn’t even he real issue. Sometimes she will wake in the night and not easily fall back to sleep. She’ll want to lay and nurse for like an HOUR or more. If I try to get off, hoping she’s asleep, she’ll cry her head off. She’s in hat In between place but 1) I can’t fall asleep while she nursed...I just have never been able to. And 2) my nipples can’t take that for an hour. If she had a passi or a bottle she could hold she could lay there inbetween place and maybe fall back to sleep. But after a certain point and so many tries, I can’t take it anymore and I take her out of the room to cry, because she...

Hi and congratulations! It sounds like all is normal. Many moms make more milk with 2nd baby than with first. It sounds like your production was good with oldest child, so you may be making even more milk now. This would tend to shorten nursing sessions because baby can get all they need quickly.
No harm in gently encouraging baby to nurse longer, but if he won't, he won't. I would suggest do not think of baby as "just not a comfort nurser", that is unlikely and would not be clear this early anyway. Most babies who are not comfort nursers are that way because they have been somehow discouraged (often inadvertently) from comfort nursing. Comfort nursing is generally important for encouraging longer term nursing, so it is best to gently encourage it.
On the other hand, since baby is gaining well and pooping lots, no need to stress, baby is clearly getting enough.
Encouraging frequent nursing sessions is an excellent thing to do when there is lots of milk and fast sessions. Frequent nursing will help the milk flow to be less intense, so baby may nurse a bit longer each time.
pumping 6 ounces - that is a lot to be pumping at any point, but in particular it is a lot for under two weeks! Milk production tends to increase gradually for the first 4-6 weeks naturally. I would suggest not worry about pumping for as long as you can, but if you really want to get a jump on it, probably no harm in pumping once a day or a couple times a week. The risk with pumping at this...

Hello, this is my third son and he is now 16 months old. I had been down to pumping once a day at work (gone for 9 hrs) and he was down to eating 3 ounces the whole time I was gone. I had been doing once a day for four months and thought it was time to quit. I have not been too full except for one day that he didn't nurse before I went to work, and now have mastitis even though my breasts aren't painful or red. Thoughts? Perhaps this is a one time occurrence and it won't happen again? I don't want to go back to pumping.